NordenBladet – Finland has a land border with Russia that is about 1,300 kilometers long. The total length of the planned border fence will be about 200 kilometers. The work started with the removal of trees on both sides of the Imatra border post. First, a three-kilometer test fence section will be erected. The government is testing whether the fence can withstand the load of snow and winter cold, reports Yle.
In March, the construction of the road and the construction of the fence will begin, then the technical monitoring system will be installed. The Imatra fence should be ready by the end of June, the three-kilometer section will cost about six million euros.
A road will be built next to the fence to be built, along which the border guards can move. The road will also be used for maintenance work. In addition, the authorities are building special gates so that wild animals can continue to cross the border.
NordenBladet – A 20-year-old customer, referred to as “Emilie” to protect her identity, purchased a blow dryer hairbrush from the online store Moderneliv.no. She returned the brush for being of poor quality and overpriced at 2499 NOK. When Emilie wrote a negative review of the store on Trustpilot, the company demanded that she pay for the product as a “punishment” for her review, despite already having refunded her, NRK.no reports.
According to Nora Wennberg Gløersen, a consumer lawyer from the Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet), a consumer is entitled to a refund if they have returned the product properly, and companies cannot impose unreasonable conditions on the refund. Consumers are free to share positive and negative experiences on platforms such as Trustpilot without jeopardizing their rights under the sales agreement and consumer protection laws.
Moderneliv demanded that Emilie delete her negative review before it would process her refund, which she agreed to do. However, she later published a new, longer review warning other potential customers about Moderneliv’s unscrupulous behavior. In response, the company emailed Emilie that they had placed a new order on her behalf without her consent, and would bill her for the product since she had violated their agreement by writing a new review.
Emilie felt helpless and frustrated by the situation, and eventually acquiesced to Moderneliv’s demand to delete her second review to cancel the invoice. According to Gløersen, Moderneliv had no right to order products in Emilie’s name without her permission.
This case highlights the importance of consumer rights and the need for companies to act in good faith towards their customers. While companies may not like negative reviews, they cannot use them as a basis for punishing customers. Consumers should feel free to express their opinions and experiences without fear of retribution.
Featured image: Excerpt from the Norwegian online store Moderneliv (NordenBladet)
NordenBladet – Forus International, a company owned by Estonian businessman Urmas Sõurumaa, has acquired the Autolevi car-sharing platform, founded by Tauri Kärson, Simo Sulev, and Robert Sarv in 2013. The purchase price has not been disclosed, and the transaction is subject to approval from the Competition Authority.
Autolevi’s sales revenue last year was €109,300, and it employed two people in the last quarter. Based on the last transaction price, the company’s value was €290,000. Funderbeam investors will be paid €0.56 per unit if the deal is approved. Autolevi’s founder and CEO, Tauri Kärson, said the last price of Autolevi’s instrument on Funderbeam was €0.46, which implies a 21% yield compared to the last market price.
Autolevi has 45,000 users in Estonia, Latvia, and Finland and a selection of over 2,200 vehicles, according to its website. In 2022, users rented out their cars worth more than half a million euros through the platform, and this number is increasing steadily. With the help of Autolevi, car owners can earn more than €1,000 of additional income per month by renting out their vehicles, as cars typically sit idle for 90% of the time while owners must pay for leasing and insurance in full each year.
The car rental market in Estonia is underserved, despite having over 600,000 private cars and 630,000 driver’s license holders. By reducing the number of private cars on the streets, shared car services such as Autolevi can help alleviate issues like pollution, traffic congestion, and parking problems. Autolevi wants to make its service available through an app, in addition to its current web-based platform, with the help of Forus International. In 2017, Autolevi was among the top 20 startup companies in Estonia, and its development has been supported by early angel investors and more than 200 Funderbeam supporters.
Featured image: Urmas Sõõrumaa (NordenBladet)
Source: NordenBladet.ee
NordenBladet – Coop Bank (CPA1T.TL), an Estonian stock-listed company, has challenged a consumer protection decision and taken it to court instead of paying out €17 in interest to a customer. Last year, a Coop Bank customer complained to the Consumer Dispute Committee, stating that they had entered into a children’s savings account agreement with the bank. However, after the agreement was terminated and the bank changed the interest rate to be less favourable to the customer, the bank only transferred the principal sum to the customer, but not the accumulated interest of €17.21.
The bank argued to the Consumer Dispute Committee (Tarbijavaidluste komisjon) that, under its standard terms and conditions, the premium interest accumulated on the children’s savings account and the interest calculated on a daily basis during the validity of the agreement were not payable if the customer terminated the agreement before the deadline. However, the bank did not provide any explanation to the committee as to why it had changed the interest rate. This turned out to be harmful to the depositor, as the monthly interest calculated on the same deposit amount was smaller than before.
The Consumer Dispute Committee ruled that the agreement should be fulfilled based on the principles of good faith and reasonableness, taking into account practices and norms. The committee did not accept the unilateral change of essential terms of the agreement, especially regarding the interest rate. According to the committee, the infringement of the rights of the child (on whose behalf the savings account was opened) compared to other depositors is contrary to the principle of good faith and unacceptable.
The committee also pointed out that the deposited money belonged to the depositor (the child), so the debit of the savings account in favour of the bank for €17.21 was done without legal basis and to the detriment of the depositor’s rights. As a result, the committee decided that the customer’s claim should be satisfied.
According to the Consumer Protection Act, parties have the right to go to court if they disagree with a decision. Coop Bank has exercised this right and decided to appeal the decision of the Consumer Dispute Committee. The bank’s communications manager, Katre Tatrik, stated that Coop Bank does not agree with the committee’s conclusions and wants the court to decide on the validity of the disputed term. As a result of the bank’s decision to go to court, it has not paid out interest to the customer, as the decision of the Consumer Dispute Committee has not yet been enforced.
Photo: Excerpt from the promotional video
Source: NordenBladet.ee
NordenBlaadet – The Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs has sent a draft law on confirming the value of the national pension index for 2023 for coordination. The new index value will be 1.139, which means that pensions and daily rates for disability benefits will increase by an average of 13.9% from April 1st, and the average pension will rise to €700, the largest increase in the past 15 years.
“It is clear that the increase in pensions must go hand in hand with wage and cost of living increases, which is why this year’s increase in pensions is the largest in the past 15 years. In addition to the indexing that will take effect from April, pensioners will have more money left over due to the changes in income tax that came into effect at the beginning of the year, as well as a €20 extraordinary pension increase,” said Minister of Social Protection, Signe Riisalo.
For example, a person with 44 years of service will receive a pension of nearly €84.67 higher, which amounts to €700.02, from April 1st. However, the projected increase was €704, but pensions can still be raised based on the collected social tax, which unfortunately turned out to be slightly smaller than originally projected. Nevertheless, this is the largest increase in pensions in 15 years.
The average pension will still be tax-free, and the tax exemption amount that came into effect on January 1st, which is still €704, will not change. The Social Insurance Board will first apply the tax exemption to the first pillar pension, and the remaining amount, if any, to the second pillar pension from the Pension Centre. If the payouts from the first and second pillars are lower than the tax exemption, the remaining tax exemption can also be used for other income, such as wages.
According to the draft law, the basic pension amount after indexing will be €317.9, and the annual amount will be €8,684. Pensions recalculated according to the 2023 index will be paid out from April.
The Estonian state recalculates pensions every spring to keep them in balance with changes in wages and prices. Each person’s individual pension is calculated based on their previous work contributions. The current indexing system for pensions has been in effect for 15 years since January 1st, 2008, when indexing was linked to social tax revenue in larger quantities.
After the index is confirmed, the Social Insurance Board will recalculate all national pensions with the new values. Individuals can view their new pension amount from April 1st on the eesti.ee portal. Further information is available from the Social Insurance Board’s customer service at 612 1360.
In addition to pensions, the daily rate for disability benefits will also be recalculated, which will be €18.60 from April 1st, and for those with missing work ability, the average amount of support will be €558 per month. For those with partial work ability, the disability allowance is calculated at 57% of the daily rate, and the average disability allowance for those with partial work ability is €318.06. The size of the disability allowance is calculated by the Unemployment Insurance Fund for each calendar month.
NordenBladet – Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit by shareholders who claim they were defrauded over four years with false and misleading statements about the safety and effectiveness of the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court, alleges that the company concealed how its technologies created a serious risk of accidents and injuries, which led to a decline in the share price several times, including after investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The suit, led by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne, seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from Feb. 19, 2019 to Feb. 17, 2023, and CFO Zachary Kirkhorn and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja are also named as defendants.
Tesla’s share (TSLA) price closed yesterday (27 February) up $10.75, or 5.5%, at $207.63, but the stock has lost about half its value since peaking in Nov. 2021.
Photo: An excerpt of Tesla’s stock performance over the past year. Chart taken 27.02.2023. Source: Finance.Yahoo.com
Tesla’s investor day on March 1 will feature Musk promoting the company’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
NordenBladet – Tesla’s German plant in Brandenburg near Berlin has reached a production of 4,000 cars per week, quadrupling from May, according to a company statement.
The plant, which hit the production target three weeks ahead of schedule, could have an annual output of over 200,000 vehicles. The maximum capacity planned for the Brandenburg plant is 500,000 cars per year, nearing 10,000 per week, the company said.
Tesla planned to ramp up production from the plant to 4,000 in the week of March 13 and to over 5,000 by the end of June. This would allow the company to use a larger share of its Shanghai production for markets outside Europe, including Thailand, where it has just launched sales.
Tesla’s investor day on March 1 will feature Musk promoting the company’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.
NordenBladet – The promised trading period has arrived for LHV managers and insiders. During the week, three members of LHV Group’s management board have sold the bank’s shares (LHV1T.TL), according to the register of persons related to stock exchange issuers. Board members Indrek Nuumele, Andres Kitter and Martti Singi have sold a large amount of shares.
Behind the big puts is the desire to free up cash for options.
Erki Kilu, who currently heads the UK branch of LHV, sold LHV shares for the largest sums, Äripäev reports. Kilu sold 400,000 shares at an average price of 3.77 euros per share, or a little more than 1.5 million euros in total. Kilu recognized that there were two things behind the large sales amount, firstly, to free up money for options and secondly, the CEO of LHV’s UK branch moved to London this year and needed free money to set up there.
On Friday, LHV announced to the stock exchange the size of the dividend, which had decreased compared to the previous year. Last year, 0.21 euros were paid out, this year it is planned to pay 0.19 euros per share.
Opening photo: LHV Bank, Tallinn (NordenBladet) Source: NordenBladet.ee
NordenBladet – Billionaire investor Charlie Munger, who has been vocal about his disdain for cryptocurrencies, also has a stock that he loves – Costco. At the annual shareholder meeting of the Daily Journal, Munger expressed his addiction to Costco, stating that he would never sell his shares.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) stock exchange statement for the last year. The screenshot has been taken 17. February 2023, 19:55 Source: Finance.Yahoo.com
Despite Berkshire Hathaway selling 4.3 million shares in Costco in 2020, Munger has held onto his personal stake in the company, which was worth about $95 million as of November 2022.
Munger believes that if everything in America were working as well as Costco, it would be a blessing for everyone. Munger’s stake in Costco is second only to CEO Craig Jelinek’s stake. The stock has performed well in 2023, rising 11% year-to-date compared to the Dow Jones’ 2.2% increase.
However, not all of Munger’s investments have been successful, as he recently named Alibaba as one of his biggest investment blunders, saying that he had been charmed by their position in the Chinese internet and failed to realize that they were still primarily a retailer.
Featured image: Billionaire investor Charlie Munger (NordenBladet)
NordenBladet – Despite a robust performance in 2022, energy stocks have been lagging behind the rest of the market in recent weeks. While growth stocks continue to rise, the S&P 500’s Energy Select Sector (XLE) is up only 1%, compared to the benchmark index’s gain of more than 7%.
Last year saw oil and gas stocks soar while technology and consumer discretionary stocks declined, but 2023 has reversed that trend. Even though shares of companies like ExxonMobil (XOM) hit a 52-week high in early February, they have since been downgraded by CFRA Research given their recent run-up.
Exxon Mobil Corporation stock exchange statement for the last year. The screenshot has been taken 17. February 2023, 19:30 Source: Finance.Yahoo.com
“Our change in opinion is based on valuation. Shares are up 42% in the last 12 months,” analyst Stewart Glickman said in a note to investors, “In the near term, we think refining margins could narrow as price caps on Russian refined products work their way into the system in February, and we think oil services cost pressures may intensify.”
The performance of energy stocks is largely tied to the underlying commodity price, which has remained stagnant lately, but there is hope for the industry as oil prices are expected to rise in the coming months due to seasonal demand increases and China’s reopening post-COVID lockdowns.
For now, energy bulls are still favoring cyclical equities over high-tech growth names.
